Washington Nationals: Scherzer Gets Redemption Against Cubs

Nats Offense Finally Gets To Hendricks

Even though the Washington Nationals offense had been on a tear last night, they were going up against a pitcher in Kyle Hendricks who was able to shut them down. Coming into the game last night, he had only given up three runs in three starts.

The big inning on offense in this game was the bottom of the sixth. After the Cubs tied the game in the top of the frame, Wilson Ramos got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when he led off with a solo home run to right.

After the solo home runs, the hits kept coming. After an Anthony Rendon double, Danny Espinosa singled to left to put the Nats up 3-1. Espinosa has now driven in a run in four of his last five games. Two batters later, against Justin Grimm, Ben Revere singled to right to extend the lead to 4-1.

All three runs were charged to Hendricks, who went 5.1 innings, gave up four runs (three earned runs) on six hits, struck out four, and walked four in a loss.

Two other things that stood out in terms of offense in this game were that the Cubs finally pitched to Bryce Harper (17 pitches in five at-bats) and in the fifth inning, Chicago pitched around Daniel Murphy to get to Ryan Zimmerman with the bases loaded.

Once again, that strategy paid off and Zimmerman is now 2-for-23 against the Cubs this season. It will be interesting to see whether or not Zimmerman can come through with the clutch hit in the next two days.